A person who gets married in Italy, even if a foreign national, is subject to Italian legislation with regards to family rights. 

To get married in Italy with a foreign national citizen one does not have to be legally resident: a valid form of identification is sufficient (for example, a passport). If one party is not legally resident therefore, it is not an obstacle to celebrating a marriage ceremony with an Italian citizen. 

According to Italian legislation the income and assets of one of the spouses, after marriage, are property of both spouses (community property). If the spouses prefer on the other hand to separate their assets, they must declare as such prior to marriage. 

Once the marriage ceremony with an Italian citizen takes places, the foreign national citizen is entitled to a residence permit for family reasons, even if before marriage he/she was illegally resident in Italy. If he/she possesses another type of residence permit, it is possible to apply for the conversion of the permit to a permit for family reasons. 

The foreign national citizen who is married to an Italian citizen does not automatically acquire Italian citizenship, but must submit an application to the Prefecture's Office after at least two years or marriage (if children are involved, this time is reduced to one year). 

Marriage Authorisation and Publication

To get married in Italy, be it by a civil ceremony or a religious one, it is necessary to request that the marriage be publicised at the Civil Status Office in the Comune (Town Hall) where one of the future spouses is resident. 

If one intends to get married in the catholic church, or any other church the is recognised by the Italian state, it is necessary to apply to the parish or marriage clerk who will carry out the marriage ceremony.

Once the necessary documents have been obtained, the Civil Status office will arrange for publication. A notification of marriage will be displayed on the Comune's online Public Announcements Page, which will show the names of the future spouses and the place in which they will get married, for at least 8 days. From the 12th day of publication, a civil marriage ceremony can take place or, in the case of a religious ceremony, the notification can be removed and consigned to the marriage clerk.

If marriage is to take place in another Comune, a delegation is issued to allow the ceremony to take place in another Comune. The published marriage notification is valid for 180 days from the date of publication.

If the marriage ceremony does not take place in that time, it expires and needs to be issued again.